“…Hollywood director Rob Reiner warned the California Hospital Association Friday to withdraw or rewrite a ballot proposal it's pushing for 2006, saying it threatens to snatch up to $34 million a year from needy preschoolers…Reiner, a longtime activist, championed a 1998 ballot proposal slapping a 50-cents-a-pack tax on cigarettes to fund health and education programs for children up to 5 years old, now known as First 5 California…Reiner argued the hospital proposal, which calls for a $1.50 tax on each pack of cigarettes to fund emergency rooms and other health programs, would slash First 5 funding….purchases would inevitably decline as smokers shop elsewhere for lower prices or give up the habit.”

Hey Bobby! Wasn’t that the original goal? Encourage people to STOP USING TOBACCO? It sounds bizarre to me to oppose something that motivates people in that direction!

But then this isn’t really about what’s good for the people. It’s about politicians and money. In that context the logic isn’t surprising.

When it comes to California politics, anything that threatens a money source needs to be addressed and kept “All in the Family”.